It’s been an urban legend that Atari, having gone nuts mass producing catridges in the expectation they’d sell way more than they did, dumped a ton of them in a landfill and covered them over, with the hopes people wouldn’t realize what they’d done. A documentary crew went back, and sure enough, they were able to unearth proof that the cartridges were in a New Mexico landfill for decades. Continue reading
Seeing Swing Out Sister live last year was one of the shows I was most excited to get to see; I’ve enjoyed the musicianship and quality of the act for decades, and it was a wish that finally came true (the fact that it happened on my birthday made it even more fun for me). Continue reading
The New York Times has tried a bit of a bolder experiment as it expands its offerings online: Acted out re-enactments of actual transcriptions. The result is quite amusing, if not news, per se. Continue reading
For the latest edition of music other people like, I feature selections recommended by my co-worker, Tim, who has been passing along some awesome selections lately. The choices include a new entry from Lily Allen, who’s been featured here recently, and a few artists of which I was previously unaware. Continue reading
Last year, the CW rebooted “Whose Line is it Anyway?” with the standard U.S. cast and new host Aisha Tyler. The magic is still there, but some of the classic games hadn’t made it back onto the show yet. Last night, one finally made its return: The Hoedown. Continue reading
One of the areas of the company I work for has a customer service-driven model that requires dedicated focus and checking of emails/answering phones. I was talking with someone who was answering emails and signing them without a name, and I commented that we should consider the Citibank approach and just make someone up. Continue reading
For people of my age and younger (and really a bit older as well), Wheel of Fortune is Pat Sajak and Vanna White. It’s an institution, on nightly for more than 30 years now, and shows no signs of stopping (and its companion program, Jeopardy!, has held up equally well). But many don’t realize the history of the program, and that a different host and hostess could be the ones we’re still watching today, had things gone differently. Continue reading
Yesterday I noted how things like “pollen vortex” are driving news outlets because they get people to click. Coincidentally, I then tripped across this article at The Verge about how many news outlets are increasingly relying on modules with titles like “You May Also Like” to get people to keep reading (either on their own site, or through others, where they’ll get money for the click). Continue reading
It’s very frustrating to read the news and see these bizarre catch phrases and names spreading across the news media, whether it be naming snowstorms or the “polar vortex.” Continue reading
I’ve already explained here the struggle I’ve had with parts of Kylie Minogue’s new album, “Kiss Me Once,” so of course now she has to mess with me even further by releasing a 15 second sample of a song co-produced by Scissor Sisters’ member BabyDaddy, “Crystallize.” Continue reading